The Taliban police in Herat say they have arrested a teenager on suspicion of sodomy.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Taliban said that the teenager was also distributing fake money and that he was arrested from the Police District 2 of Herat city and is currently in a Taliban prison.
The Taliban claim that he has confessed to both charges.
However, a source who is aware of the details of the case says the sodomy charge is trumped up. “The person is about 18 years old and was originally arrested for using fake bank notes, but the Taliban discovered his sexual orientation during interrogation and added it to the charges against him,” the source told Zan Times, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
There are widespread reports of torture and violence in Taliban interrogation centres, and in January, a Human Rights Watch reported that the members of LGBTQ community face violence, torture and even murder at the hands of the Taliban.
Last July, just before the Taliban regained full power, one of its judges, Gul Rahim, told the German newspaper Bild: “We have two punishments for homosexuals: either stoning, or they have to stand behind a wall that will fall on their heads. The wall should be 2.5 to 3 metres high.” This is a method of punishment used by the Taliban when they were in power between 1996 and 2001.
